New Delhi: “In my 18 years of working here, I’ve carried countless suitcases and bags on trolleys—but never bodies,” said 38-year-old Janak Singh, a coolie at the New Delhi railway station. As the stampede unfolded, porters became unexpected first responders, using their luggage trolleys to transport the injured and the deceased.
“When we started pulling people out from the crowd, we tried everything to revive them. We rubbed their hands and feet, hoping they’d start breathing again,” said Bablu (32), another porter. “But there was little we could do except remove them from the crush. People were being trampled one after another, especially the young children who were barely visible.”
One after another, porters emerged from the turmoil, carrying bodies or helping desperate families locate their loved ones. Many coolies said their experience handling heavy loads made them better equipped to lift and support victims who had collapsed.
“We’ve dealt with crowd mismanagement before, but never anything like this,” said Mijaz Ilal, 32, a porter. “Our uniforms helped us recognise each other, allowing us to navigate through the crowd and signal where help was needed,” he recalled.
Many said that they were used to massive crowds during Chhath Puja or Diwali, but those usually led to minor incidents—someone tripping on the stairs or struggling to board a train, but something like this was new for them too.
Another coolie who helped rescue people said, “A woman was crying that her four-year-old daughter had died. I pulled the child out, and minutes later, she started breathing again. Her mother broke down in tears of joy.”
Jitesh Meena, another porter, added, “A man came out with tears in his eyes, carrying his dead daughter. His wife was missing. He told us that he didn’t have any money. So, we, the porters, gave him some money. He had lost his slippers and mobile in the chaos.”
Beyond the porters, others also stepped up as lifesavers.
Rahul Yadav, an 18-year-old who works at a tea stall on the platform, found himself in the middle of a nightmare. “I was about to finish my shift when I heard screaming. I turned and saw people getting crushed,” he recalled. “I could barely breathe as I entered the crowd, but I knew I had to do something. I have a family at home, and I understand what it means to lose someone.”
Rahul estimates that he managed to pull out at least 10 people. “I saw it happening with my own eyes—a very old man being trampled. It was terrifying trying to push my way in to help,” he said. “People were also trying to cross the tracks in desperation, and we had to stop them from doing that. Shopkeepers abandoned their stalls and ran to help. Along with the coolies, we lifted the injured and transported them. There were barely any policemen in sight.”
Shanu, another tea vendor, said, “I saw everything happen right in front of me, and I felt helpless. We tried to get out to pull people from the crowd, but it was impossible. When the crowd thinned a little, we offered water to the injured and fanned them.”
Near the station’s washrooms, sanitation workers at first mistook the commotion for the usual bustle of a busy platform—until they heard the screams cutting through the noise. As panic spread and distressed family members rushed for help, some workers took to filling plastic bottles with water from the taps to splash on unconscious passengers.
Even vendors outside the railway station joined in the effort. KK Srivastava, 65, who manages a bottled-water stall outside the station, said, “I had just started packing up around 11 pm when I suddenly saw people running out, terrified. I immediately started handing out glasses of water—one after another—to anyone who needed it. I saw so many people crying, desperately searching for their loved ones. One of them informed me about the stampede.”
